Last night, my co-founder Windsor and I attended the Harris Center’s 15th Annual Public Forum, an event that Her Campus was a proud sponsor of. The Harris Center is a center for education and advocacy in eating disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the forum’s purpose is to raise awareness of eating disorders, by hosting a discussion with influential speakers who can shed light on this important issue and add their own interesting perspective.
In addition to the Harris Center’s Director Dr. David Herzog, this year’s speakers were Arianna Huffington (Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group), Franca Sozzani (Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia), and Doutzen Kroes (supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel).
The event began with a special reception where we got to chat with Arianna, Franca Sozzani, Dr. Herzog, and Doutzen, and we heard from the Harris Center’s teen leaders who work to promote healthy body image and eating disorder awareness.
Here we are with supermodel and Victoria’s Secret angel Doutzen Kroes!
Here we are with Arianna Huffington!
Here we are with the editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue, Franca Sozzani!
After the reception, the forum itself began at Harvard’s Memorial Church. Dr. Herzog gave opening remarks, and then the three speakers engaged in a discussion about the prevalence of eating disorders in today’s society and what different players in society can do to fight against it. Arianna spoke about her daughter’s eating disorder as a preteen, and about how The Huffington Post has engaged many of its sections- Style, Healthy Living, among others- with eating disorder awareness and advocacy.
Franca Sozzani spoke from an editor’s perspective about picking models for runway and magazine shoots, and how important it is to pick a diverse group of models. Doutzen talked about the endless pressures to lose more and more weight in the modeling world, and how she has refused to become too thin just to please agents or designers. Then, audience members asked questions of the speakers.
It was a phenomenal event that shed light on this important and all too pervasive issue, and the speakers invigorated the audience to do their own part to help fight against eating disorders. Thanks so much to Dr. Herzog and the Harris Center for including Her Campus in this important event.
Do you have ideas for what HC can do to help raise awareness about eating disorders and encourage a healthy body image? Leave a comment!